The Lesterland Rant

Michael Tobis, editor-in-chief of Planet3.0 and site cofounder, has always been interested in the interface between science and public policy. He holds a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin - Madison in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences where he developed a 3-D ocean model on a custom computing platform. He has been involved in sustainability conversations on the internet since 1992, has been a web software developer since 2000, and has been posting sustainability articles on the web since 2007.

Larry Lessig’s much-watched call to action is America-centric, but it has much to offer the rest of us too, especially in parts of the world subject to the infestations of the Murdoch Press. The question relevant to us here really is cui bono, who benefits? Who benefits, that is, not from overstating or understating specific issues, but who benefits from the collapse of civilized discourse itself? Of course, that would be political actors and their fundraising mechanisms. Having an implacable enemy promotes action and sacrifice. Unfortunately it suppresses thought and conversation. Ultimately the last thing those in the grips of this motivation want is a solution to our problems.

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